Halloween 2002
by LadyHawkKathy
Summary: Quick little one chapter that is a link piece between Descendent of the Falcon and a new story titled Rewined. Title says it all


**Halloween 2002**

Or I really should have slept in

An annoying buzzing pierced the pleasure of sleep. Harry's internship at St. Mungo's was leaving him sleep-deprived and wondering if it might have been better to have taken Victor's invitation and become his back up seeker. No good regretting it now, Harry slammed his hand down on the alarm button, he had already put in four years at the university and was now working on his first Internship.

Hermione rolled over and kissed him on the cheek. "Time to get a move on. We need to be at intake at the free clinic in Grimald place in less than an hour."

Harry rolled to face her and give her a real kiss when a kick from the lump between them made it clear that this little one did not like being squished between Mommy and Daddy. He smiled and laid a hand on Hermione's ever-expanding stomach. "I'll get your tea going and some biscuits." Hermione was already looking green and needed the potion Cassie had sent to her to help with morning sickness.

Harry looked at the calendar as he sipped his tea waiting for Hermione. It was October 31st, Samhain or Halloween as the non-magicals called it, Harry's least favorite holiday of the year. I seriously considered calling off of the day's rounds at the clinic but know it would be useless if something was going to happen there was little he could do to stop it.

Hermione came running out with her hair half brushed and a toothbrush still in her mouth. "Sorry, just having a really bad morning and this nagging feeling that it would be better to just go back to bed."

Harry crooked his head toward the calendar.

"Oh, that makes sense now. No putting it off if the day is going to follow the pattern of every other Halloween there is nothing we can do to stop it." she grabbed her travel mug and a few biscuits as they headed over to the manor to take the flow to Grimald place.

Cassie had already headed out before they got there leaving Sirius and the boys to greet them at the manor. "Here you got, "Sirius handed them both a packed lunch Cassie had made for them. "Cassie said she will see you later after she has seen to the morning business at the Ministry. An owl arrived rather early this morning with a note that managed to get Cass's feathers ruffled. Hopefully, its nothing big but merlin knows." Both he and Harry couldn't help but snicker at the phrase. Sirius then hugged them both and sent them on their way.

Cassian was angry as hell as she made her way down to the prison cells that held the most dangerous prisoners. This was her own making she thought as she passed cells that by all rights should not exist. If her Father was the Merlin, they wouldn't. He would have just executed the lot of them and been done with it.

It was the last cell, the one with more protections and wards than any other. Shacklebolt and Amelia were already at work trying to discern how the prisoner had managed to escape.

"WELL" the tone in Cassian's voice made it clear that whoever was responsible for this was going to pay.

Shacklebolt just shook his head. Amelia then stood up from where she had been kneeling, holding something small that would have normally been overlooked. She handed the small piece of glass over to Cassie who sniffed it then touched it to the tip of her tongue.

"This is not possible. I want a list of all the guards that have been assigned to this ward for more than a year. The only way she could have gotten this is for someone to be working with her for a very long while."

"Could she have had the potion on her when she was locked up?" Amelia asked as she continued to search the cell for any other items."

"No, Cassie handed the glass fragment over to Shacklebolt., I myself locked her in her after the battle at the Henge I made sure she had nothing on her or hidden in any way. Now get me that list A.S.A.P." Cassian turned and walked out of the cell. This was bad, she needed to call Sirius and then warn Harry, Bellatrix was loose and had somehow managed to get a potion that would let her regain the use of her animagus form.

The free clinic was packed Harry and Draco hadn't had a break since they had gotten in that morning. Draco's last patient had been a young girl who has somehow gotten ahold of an old wand and hexed her own nose into a guinea pig. A simple enough condition to unhex, the problem was getting the child to let him do it, she wanted the guinea pig. His solution was to give her a lollie made with a sleep draft then unhex then her nose once she was asleep, and then transfigure a spare vial into a guinea pig that looked like the one that had been her nose.

Draco looked over at Harry, "Ready to take a break."

"Love to, but I promised Hermione I would take it when she got here. She has been trying out some new recipes and wanted my input." Harry signed off on a treatment plan for a patient that was being sent to St. Mungos for observation.

"Your a braver man than I Potter. It's baffling how someone as skilled as Hermione could be such a horrid cook."

They both began to laugh that was until the clinic's doors flew open.

Two large Aoriers half carrying half pushing a hag that from the first look you would have wondered how she was even putting up any resistance into the emergency area.

"Got a really fun one for you gents. We retrieved her down in Nocturn Alley. Some of the businesses in the area had filed a complaint about her sleeping on their doorsteps."

Harry stepped over to take a closer look at her while she was still being restained. "Take her into the special patient room and tell the attendant to activate the calming ruins."

The Hag looked up ar Harry as he was giving orders, then stopped fighting the Aurors. "No need for that Mr, Potter, I will be a good girl." She shrugged off the hands of the Aoriers and sat quietly on an open gurney.

Harry now looked even closer at her trying to discern if he knew her. "How do you know who I am?"

"One would need to have lived in a cave to not recognized the Great Harry Potter. The savior of wizarding Britain."

"That was a long time back, here I am Doctor Potter and as long as you promise to sit there calmly and let me asses your condition we will not need to restain you."

The old hag looked down at the floor, "Hecuba promises to be a good girl Dr. Potter."

Harry nodded and smiled, then turned to talk with the nurses at the desk after indicating to the two Aoriers to take seats by the door, just in case.

In a voice soft enough that only the nurses could hear, "get her some pumpkin juice and a biscuit. She looks as if she hasn't eaten for days. Then try and get her out of those rags and into a gown.

Draco joined Harry at the desk. "You want me to help you with her in case she gets out of hand."

Harry just shook his head, "Na, but if you could make me a tea while your back in the break room."

In her office, Minister Cassian Black sat in front of her scrying mirror. Normally she would look into the mirror to view the multiple timelines that would result from different political chooses. This time thou was different. She had missed something important and now needed to see if there was a way to correct the damage this miss would cause.

She watched over and over again the coming and goings of the guards and attendants that worked in the long term detention cell block, winding the time back farther and farther till she finally saw what she was looking for. The food tray was pushed into the cell then an hour later a small black cat squirmed it way out of the cell through the tray flap. One more wind back to get a better look at the woman who slipped the tray under the door. Who was this young woman? Cassian did not know her. Flipping through the list Amelia had compiled, Delphi White. Cassian tapped her desk to call for her assistant.

"I need the personal file on Delphi White and I need to talk with Minister Bones."

Behind her, a small mirror went from looking foggy to clear. Cassian's assistant bowed her head and left the office, leaving her to break the news to Sirius about Bellatrix escape.

Hecuba was in a clean exam gown and had eaten a full tin of biscuits and drank 3 pumpkin juice. Harry was now ready to try and examine the Hag. From the outer office, the sound of Hermione's voice reached his ears bringing a smile to his face. Harry nodded to the nurse and asked her to have Hermione take a seat behind the desk. Once he was finished with the examination of Hecuba he would take his brake and try the food Hermione had brought for him.

Hecuba was rail thin and had multiple scrapes and bruises. It was clear she had lived a ruff life. Her hands were heavily callused as were her feet. Her hair was tangled and infested by countless lice and flees. She needed a good bathing and to be deloused. Harry patted the back of her hand. Well if you will let my nurses they will help bathe you and take care of your hair. Then we will get you a nice warm bed and some new robes. You will stay here at the clinic in one of our patient rooms for a week or two until your bruises and cut are healed.

Hecuba smiled a toothy smile and nodded as Harry turned to write up his orders. I the outer office he heard Sirius telling the attendant that he needed to see Harry immediately. Behind him, the nurses began to yell, in front of him Hermione was rising from the chair and Draco was coming out of the break room. He saw Hermione start to scream as a green light erupted around him.

Sirius pushed his way past the front desk attendant and through the swinging door just in time to see Harry drop to the floor with a hole the size of cannonball through his back where his heart was. Without even thinking he turned and fired off a bombarda at the witch who was now looking more and more like Bellatrix as she returned to her real self as the polyjuice war off.

Draco was behind Hermione as the reality of what had just happened caused her to faint.

Harry was dead and there was nothing anyone could do to bring him back. Not even Cassie's revival position could help. His body was beyond repair.

Draco cradled Hermione as he began to cry. They had become the best of friends over the last five years. Harry had even been his best man when he and Susan married last year. Sirius at on the floor feeling the grief and pain so very much like what he had felt twentyone years ago. On the gurney laid a headless body. Bellatrix may have carried out her insane plan, but her victory was short-lived.

In Cassian's office, a pain shot through her. Harry was gone, she had been to later with her warning. Now she would have to tell Lily and James.

Harry woke on a bench around him he saw platform 9. ¾, but all the trash and dirt was gone. What had happened, was he dreaming, And what was coming next? It was Halloween and like so many Halloweens before his life had been changed. Why hadn't he just stayed in bed like he had wanted to?

From the far side of the platform, a woman took on a more solid form. Upon her face was a look of irritation. She was going to have to explain to Harry what had happened and try and make things right, after all, he was the master of Death and even the spell Bellatrix had hit him with should not have killed him.


End file.
